American holidays are the characters in this witty seasonal tale, the second Christmas story collaboration by Reiss and Catrow (How Murray Saved Christmas, not reviewed). Santa has gained weight and is claustrophobic about getting stuck in a chimney during deliveries. The kindly therapist, Doc Holiday, sends Santa off on a cruise for a year to recuperate, and recruits all his other clients to take over Santa’s work. The extensive cast list (unnecessarily all male) includes all the major holidays, from Baby New Year to the Thanksgiving Turkey, with hilarious minor holiday persona as well, each with a particular problem. Christopher Columbus can’t get his directions straight; the April Fool is, of course, a prank-playing fool; and the red-eyed, suspicious Election Day Donkey and Elephant (with butterfly ballots hanging out of their pockets) are stuck on an island recounting their own votes. The story is told in rollicking, sing-song rhyme (recalling the Grinch), full of some very funny, laugh-out-loud ideas, off-beat humor, and sly digs at holiday frippery and foibles. Catrow’s hilarious, cartoon-style watercolors provide additional amusement that will appeal to children, teens, and adults. All his characters are caricatures, including one representing Martin Luther King Day, which may be problematic for some readers or communities. This will work well as a read-aloud for older kids, and of course, as an ideal Christmas gift for any therapist who doesn’t shrink from irreverent humor. (Picture book. 6+)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-8341-7756-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Yasmin’s campaign should help inspire young readers to believe in their own potential to make a difference and teach the...
When her source of books is threatened, so is 9-year-old Yasmin’s goal of reading a book a day “forever.”
The inspiration behind and assistant to her in that goal is Book Uncle, owner of a free lending library on the street corner where she lives. His motto is to provide the “right book for the right person for the right day.” When Book Uncle is forced to shut down his lending library because he can’t afford the permit, Yasmin is disappointed and confused. She is then motivated to try and get the lending library back in business and enlists the help of her friends and then their larger neighborhood. All this happens amid a mayoral election, which provides the perfect background for the plot. Yasmin is a precocious, inquisitive protagonist with a tendency to speak before she thinks. Her relationships with her family and friends read as authentic and loving, even, and perhaps especially, in the moments when they are not perfect. This all lays the foundation for the community organizing that later becomes so necessary in effecting the change that Yasmin seeks to make. Swaney’s playful, childlike illustrations advance the action and help to bring Yasmin’s Indian city to life.
Yasmin’s campaign should help inspire young readers to believe in their own potential to make a difference and teach the valuable lesson that sometimes it takes several small actions to make big moves. (Fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-55498-808-2
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
An inspirational look at one girl’s quest to make sure that all skin tones are visible and available in the classroom.
A Black girl’s simple observation propels her into activism.
Woodard, who launched the More Than Peach Project—which arranges for classrooms and children in need to receive kits that include art supplies and boxes of multicultural crayons (crayons in a variety of skin tones)—relates the incident that sparked her journey. As the book begins, she is dropped off at school and notices that her family’s skin tone differs from that of her classmates. While it is clear that she is one of a few children of color at school, that difference isn’t really felt until her friends start asking for the “skin-color” crayon when they mean peach. She’s bothered that no one else seems to notice that skin comes in many colors, so she devises a unique way of bringing everyone’s attention to that fact. With support from her family and her school, she encourages her fellow classmates to rethink their language and starts an initiative to ensure that everyone’s skin tone is represented in each crayon box. Appealing, realistic artwork depicts Woodard’s experiences, while endpapers feature More Than Peach crayon boxes and childlike illustrations of kids of different ethnicities doing various activities. The story is stirring and will motivate budding activists. (This book was reviewed digitally; the review has been updated for factual accuracy.)
An inspirational look at one girl’s quest to make sure that all skin tones are visible and available in the classroom. (note from Woodard, information on Woodard’s journey into activism, instructions on starting a drive) (Picture-book biography. 6-10)Pub Date: July 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-80927-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
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